Record U.S. Defense Spending, but Future Budgets May Decline

Lubold, Gordon, The Christian Science Monitor

The Pentagon is asking for the biggest defense budget ever, but
senior officers and analysts fear the days of big defense spending
may soon be over.

The emerging reality: As supplemental war-funding streams dry up,
the amount of overall defense money will probably decrease. "We in
uniform all recognize that the budget will come down," says one
senior officer in the Pentagon.

Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, the defense budget has
ballooned about 35 percent in real terms. Much of that rise can be
attributed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have cost the
US about $691 billion so far.

For the 2009 fiscal year, the Defense Department is asking for
$515 billion and a separate $70 billion to cover war costs into the
early months of a new administration. Those amounts combined would
represent the highest level of military spending since the end of
World War II (adjusted for inflation). Already, defense spending
hovers around 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a level
that would represent the new floor for defense budgets if many in
the Pentagon have their way. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and
other senior officials believe that that floor is the minimum needed
to fund the department and the war on terrorism more broadly,
regardless of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That's much higher than many US allies. Britain, France, and
Australia spend an average 2.4 percent of their GDP on defense.
Germany spends 1.5 percent. But Secretary Gates says the US spent
far more of its GDP on past wars.

Some US military officials say the "4 percent argument" lacks
enough specifics to carry much weight until it can be tied to
specific acquisition programs, because so much of it was spent on
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and therefore did not receive a high
degree of scrutiny from Congress.

The next administration and Congress will have to take a hard
look at defense spending, analysts say.

The services, especially the Army and Marine Corps, require
billions of dollars to help them "re-set" their equipment stocks
after several years of war on terror. …

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